How often do or did your reception age dc get ill?

My just turned 5 year old started reception in September and has caught everything going round and been off loads. She's had at least 4-5 vomiting bugs (one norovirus which knocked us all out before Christmas and two this month!!), earache, fever with no vomiting, colds, diarrhoea (I think caused by the vitamin tablets we started to give her), threadworms and scarlett fever.

It seems to be that we get a weeks grace and then the next thing starts. What with the illness and then leaving it 48 hours after vomiting or diarrhoea she's missed a lot of school. Thankfully my dp is very flexible with work so it hasn't been an issue with childcare but I'm worried about her immune system and progress in school.

So, is this a normal level of illness for reception or should I have her checked by gp? She was at nursery with the same classmates last year and was off only a handful of times.

is it the first time she is in such an intense group? did she go to pre-school or nursery?if it is I think it's pretty normal to get everything going. but if not I would go to gp, as this sounds like a lot of illness.

what you can do: - a lot of excersise outside, at least an hour a day.- good nutrition- sleep, maybe move bedtime forward a little bit

Thanks Mousy. Apart from 4-5 extra pupils she's been in this group for over a year. We're doing the lots of fresh air and introduced vitamins as she's not the best eater and she goes to bed between 7-7:30 and up at 6:30-7am. More sleep??

im a reception teacher and my children have been continuously ill with colds all year! its my first year teaching reception so i dont know if this is normal... but i guess its like freshers flu!! only problem is that i have it now!!!

barebranches how much effect will time off have in reception?? I have no official figure but i imagine she's down to 75-80% attendance. Will it put her behind her peers or is it negligible at this age?

Reception year is important but at the same time she wont be learning if she is ill - half the problem that i have is that parents send their ill children into school which passes on the illness! I do understand child care is difficult though.

Check with her teacher how she is doing, if she needs extra help to catch up anything she missed. The most important thing that i find is if they miss a new sound in phonics - I try and make sure that they get the input when they come back or they will full behind in that area. Any other area they will revisit again.

DD has been very ill this year and hasn't been ill at all the previous years. She has had chicken pox, noro virus and was hospitalised with scarlet fever. I'm hoping she will enter year 1 with an immune system of steel

Thanks everyone. Dp seems to think her immune system hasn't had a chance to recover properly before contact with yet another infection. I'm a lot more cautious and considering trip to gp though I do feel reassured other dc are suffering just as much.

My eldest in reception had possibly 1-2 days off in two terms worth. Similar for the next few years. My youngest is in the first year of reception - had 2 weeks off already for various D, V D+V ailments. Eldest has ALSO had almost 10 days off through pretty much the same. Both been to nursery before that for several years. Bugs have just been rampaging round their schools since the middle of last term.

DS2 is in Yr1, and hasn't had a day off yet (ie including the entire Reception year). I think we are pretty lucky though - perhaps he is particularly hardy. DS1 (Yr 3) has had about 1 day off per year - his class had a very poor run this year with a lot of bugs. His day off was due to very bad cold.